Temperature monitoring - technical resources

Vaccination is one of the most reliable and affordable interventions with the potential to reduce child deaths.

In order to be an efficient solution, one of the main prerequisites is to maintain the quality of the vaccines through an effective Supply Chain. Vaccine exposure to freezing or hot temperatures in the cold chain may decrease vaccine potency leading to a loss of vaccine investments and potentially places children at risk of contracting vaccine preventable diseases.

Having a functioning temperature monitoring system in place is not only a critical World Health Organization (WHO) recommendation it is becoming mandatory.

Effective Vaccine Management (EVM) assessments have identified Temperature Monitoring as one of the weakest links in the Vaccine Supply Chain.

This area of the TechNet-21 website is intended to support countries with technical resources to adequately design and implement/upgrade systematic and effective temperature monitoring in their cold chain. It covers 30-Day Temperature Recorders (30DTR) and Remote Temperature Monitoring (RTM) devices. It aims to:

For now this website does not cover temperature surveillance during transport.

Acknowledgements

The Temperature monitoring - technical resources area of the TechNet-21 website is being developed as part of UNICEF/ WHO hub effort to strengthen the continuous management and monitoring of temperature at all levels of the immunization cold chain to safeguard vaccine potency and reduce expensive losses of vaccines from temperature damage. It leverages innovative solutions and tools from other partners and countries.

The following individuals have contributed to the production of the document and their inputs are acknowledged with sincere gratitude: